TotalEnergies buys into RWE’s Dutch offshore wind farm to produce green hydrogen

RWE and TotalEnergies have entered into an agreement under which TotalEnergies will acquire a 50% stake in RWE’s OranjeWind offshore wind farm in the Netherlands. TotalEnergies said it would use its share of the electricity from the 795 MW OranjeWind to produce green hydrogen. The new partners have now also taken the final investment decision (FID) on the project.

With half of the generation capacity of the 759 MW offshore wind farm, TotalEnergies plans to power 350 MW electrolyzer projects that will produce about 40,000 tons of green hydrogen annually, which the company will use to decarbonize its refineries in Northern Europe.

The move falls within TotalEnergies’ goal of decarbonizing its European refineries’ hydrogen and cutting its CO2 emissions by around 5 million tons per year by 2030. The production of green hydrogen via electrolysis using OranjeWind electricity will replace the hydrogen currently consumed in TotalEnergies’ refineries and will avoid the emission of approximately 400,000 tons of CO2 per year, according to TotalEnergies’ press release from 24 July.

RWE and its new partner have also taken the investment decision to build the 759 MW project, for which suppliers for the main components have already been selected.

The OranjeWind offshore wind farm will comprise 53 Vestas V236-15 MW wind turbines installed on monopile foundations that will be produced by Sif. The foundations and wind turbines will be installed by Jan De Nul using its floating heavy lift vessel Les Alizés and jack-up installation vessel Voltaire. TKF will supply the inter-array cables for the project.

Offshore construction at the OranjeWind site, located approximately 53 kilometers from IJmuiden on the Dutch coast, is scheduled to start in 2026, with full commissioning expected in early 2028. 

“The Netherlands is one of our strategic core markets to grow our green portfolio. In TotalEnergies I am delighted to have a strong partner at our side with whom we can realise our first offshore wind project in the Netherlands and at the same time unlock the full system integration of OranjeWind. Together, we will provide a blueprint for the Dutch energy system of the future, designed to tackle the challenges of intermittent wind generation and flexible energy demand,” said Sven Utermöhlen, CEO of RWE Offshore Wind.

RWE secured the development and construction of OranjeWind in November 2022, when the company won the right to build and operate a subsidy-free offshore wind farm at the Hollandse Kust West (HKW) VII site. TotalEnergies also placed bids for HKW Site VI and HKW Site VII that were offered in the 2022 Dutch tender. HKW Site VI was awarded to Shell and Eneco.

The OranjeWind offshore wind farm at HKW Site VII is the first system integration project of this kind in the Netherlands, with the requirement for combining energy systems set by the Dutch government in the tender itself.

After being awarded the project site, the Germany-based developer announced that its first Dutch offshore wind farm would include green hydrogen production and floating solar, as well as other flexible demand solutions such as e-boilers and battery storage.

In a press release about its new joint venture with TotalEnergies, RWE said each partner would deliver their allocated part of system integration solutions, including electrolyzers, smart charging solutions for electric vehicles, e-boilers for heating, and battery storage.

Within the newly created joint venture, RWE will lead the development, construction and operation of the OranjeWind offshore wind farm on behalf of the two partners.